     STANDARD
          BEARER
,          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE




       This Spirit was promised also to the
     church. God had said through the prophet
     Joel, as Peter points out in his sermon, that
     He would pour out of His Spirit upon all
     flesh, even upon all nations. The line of
     God's covenant is no longer confined within
     the narrow limits of Israel as a nation, but
     becomes universal, since God now gathers
     His elect from all the nations of the world.
     Peter can say: "This is that which was
     spoken by the prophet Joel."
                             See: Meditation, page 386


                                               Vol.  LXIII, No. 17, June 1, 1987  -


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                              CONTENTS                                                                          THE STANDARD  BEARER
         ...                                                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
  Meditation  -                                                                              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
     The Spirit of Christ Shed Forth . . . . . . . . . . . . . .386                                Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                    Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
  Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389      Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie d&n  Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                    D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
  Editorials  -                                                                     Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                                                                    bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James 1
                                                                                                                                      S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
     Why Evolution? (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389          Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Benjamin- Wigger.
     Evolution At Dordt College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .391                Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                        4975  Ivanrest Ave., S.W.
  Guest Article  -                                                                                      Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                                    Church News Editor; Mr. Ben Wiener
     Serious Call or Well-meant Offer? . . . . . . . . . . .392                                             6597  - 40th &e.
                                                                                                            Hudsonville, Michigan 49426
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko




                       The Spirit of Christ Shed Forth


                   "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the
                promise  of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."                                             Acts 2:33


  This . . .                                                                          not see, our ear cannot hear, and which exceed our
  Our language fails us when we try to put into                                       fondest imagination!
mere words the wonders of God, the mysteries of                                           The Day of Pentecost brought us one of those
the kingdom of heaven, which our human eye can-                                       amazing wonders of the God of our salvation, who


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            387



in the riches of His abundant mercies has raised up         and the smoking sacrifice. Later God dwelled
Jesus Christ from the dead, exalted Him to the              typically in the midst of His people by taking up
highest heavens, and through Him bestowed the               His abode in the most holy place of the tabernacle
gift of the Holy Spirit upon us, His church!                and of the temple. The heirs of salvation expressed
  Never forget that the Spirit is God! God makes            their innermost joy by singing:
His dwelling place in the heart of mere man, even                 Zion, founded on the mountain, God, thy
sinful man! He makes us new creatures in Christ                        Maker loves thee well;
and brings us into intimate fellowship with Him,                  He has chosen thee, most precious, He
the living God, that we may behold His face in                         delights in thee to dwell;
righteousness and glory in His endless perfections                God's own city, who can all thy glory tell?
unto all eternity! He came to dwell with us for the            Yet this was all in anticipation of the better
very purpose of uniting all His elect saints in the         things to come. For they still awaited the promised
blessed communion of the members of the Body of             Savior. God's people longed to see His day, and in
Christ as church of the eternal God!                        that longing persevered in the midst of trials and
  God came in the Spirit on Pentecost! That Spirit          sufferings!
is not a mere power, be it the power of the living             The promised salvation was realized on Pente-
God. He is God! Nor is He but a part of God, let us         cost, when the Holy Spirit was shed forth, climax-
say, a third of God as Third Person of the Trinity.         ing all the amazing events that had preceded it in
God is indeed three Persons, Father, Son and Holy           the coming of the Savior! God had sent His Son into
Spirit, but these three are inseparably one! The            the world, born of a woman, born under the law,
Spirit is holy, not only in the sense that God is holy,     that He might redeem us from the curse of the law.
but in the very special sense that He is eternally          The Son of God in our flesh suffered torments of
devoted to God, searching out and revealing the             God's wrath, particularly during the three hours of
depths of God's eternal virtues. He comes to us to          darkness on Calvary. He died, was buried, and
bring us into an ever growing consciousness of the          arose again as Victor over Satan, sin, hell, death and
blessed riches of the fulness of our God! He does           the grave. This Jesus has God raised up and exalted
that both now and eternally, for we need all eterni-        to the highest heavens. He was given the position of
ty to experience to the full the blessed intimacy of        power and authority at the Father's right hand. He
God's covenant life. He is Spirit in the sense that         is now the exalted Lord over His Church, gathering,
He permeates the entire Being of God, bringing              defending and preserving His saints unto the day of
Father and Son together in blessed fellowship of            His coming with the clouds of the heavens. As Lord
love and life, experiencing perfect harmony and             of His Church, reigning out of Zion, all power is
unity in all their thoughts, plans and works. He            given to Him in heaven and on earth. He exercises
comes to us to unite us with the heart of God, to the       God's authority over the whole universe. His Name
praise of the glory of His grace in the Beloved!            stands above all names. All the angels of heaven, all
  This is God's gift to the church of the new               the demons of hell, and all living creatures upon
dispensation, bestowed upon us at Pentecost!                the earth are subject to Him. He carried out the
Amazing gift!                                               sovereign counsel of God's will unto the renewal of
                                                            all things and the establishing of His eternal
  In that respect the church of the old dispensation        kingdom when He returns as Judge of heaven and
did not possess the Spirit. As Jesus says, "The Holy        earth. Christ rules over all unto the salvation of His
Ghost was not yet, because Christ was not yet glori-        people. He is Lord, ruling in God's Name, and He
fied." John 7:39. The Holy Spirit also then was pres-       alone!
ent in the hearts of God's elect, for they were
saved exactly in the same manner as we. Even then             Exalted by the right hand of the Father, that is,
the Holy Spirit worked regeneration, conversion,            by the power and authority that raised Him from
faith, and all the other gifts of salvation. The dif-       the dead, Christ receives the promise of the Holy
ference was that the Christ had not yet come. The           Spirit.
church was still under the condemning testimony               This Spirit was promised to Christ from all eter-
of the law, which drove them out to Christ in the           nity. Already when Jesus began His earthly
hope of His coming. The Spirit proclaimed the prom-         ministry, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the
ised salvation through the. prophets, as well as            form of a dove, to qualify Him in carrying out His
through the types and shadows. The patriarchs had           calling here on earth. Now, as a reward upon that`
communion with God through the altar, the lamb,             accomplished work, Christ is given the Holy Spirit
                                                            to equip Him for His mediatorial work in heaven.
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    Throughout His earthly ministry our Savior bore all
Reformed Churches.                                          His sufferings in the flesh with an eye on the glory


388                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



that was promised to Him. In His soul rang the glad       semblance of a large flame of fire that broke up into
refrain:                                                  smaller flames, one hundred and twenty of them,
       The Lord unto His Christ has said, Sit Thou        settling on the heads of all those who were in the
            at My right hand                              room praying for this to happen. The Holy Spirit of
       Until I make Thy enemies submit to Thy             Christ came to fill them, to dwell in them, to sancti-
            command.                                      fy and enlighten them, that they might understand
       A scepter prospered by the Lord Thy mighty         the mighty works of God! A new day has dawned
            hand shall wield;                             for the church. Now the enigma of the cross and
       From Zion Thou shalt rule the world, and all       resurrection is solved. Now they understood that
            Thy foes shall yield.                         the Christ had to suffer all these things, in order to
  This Spirit was promised also to the church. God        enter into His glorious, heavenly kingdom. The
had said through the prophet Joel, as Peter points        Scriptures were opened to them by the Spirit of the
out in his sermon, that He would pour out of His          risen Lord, so that the cross and the resurrection
Spirit upon all flesh, even upon all nations. The line    took on new meaning for them!
of God's covenant is no longer confined within the          No, Jesus was no longer among them. But they
narrow limits of Israel as a nation, but becomes          now had the risen Savior in a far richer sense dwell-
universal, since God now gathers His elect from all       ing within them. They were united to Him by a
the nations of the world. Peter can say: "This is that    bond of living faith, and thus were assured of the
which was spoken by the prophet Joel." This was           forgiveness of their sins, their eternal justification,
also that which was promised by Christ Himself on         their sanctification, preservation and ultimate glori-
the eve of His death, when He promised His                fication, as never before! All this took on a new, a
disciples another Comforter, even the Spirit of           richer meaning for all of them.
truth, who would abide with them forever. Jesus             The disciples of Jesus went out into the crowd
said that it was necessary for Him to leave, in order     that had gathered and experienced another two-
that the Comforter might come. He would not leave         fold wonder. First of all, the Spirit of truth opened
them like forsaken orphans, but He would soon             their understanding, so that they spoke with great
return to them in the Spirit, nevermore to be parted      enthusiasm of the mighty works of God. We need
from them.                                                not speculate as to what those mighty works were.
  The exalted Christ "has shed forth this, which ye       Obviously, these disciples spoke of Christ, of His
now see and hear."                                        earthly ministry, His death, His victory over the
  This, which no eye can see, no ear can hear, nor        grave and His exaltation to the highest heavens,
could ever enter into man's imagination, has God          while rejoicing in their souls: "My Lord and my
revealed through signs and wonders that can be            God!" The second wonder was as great as the first.
seen and heard!                                           Approaching the Jews and proselytes from other
                                                          countries, they spoke to each in his or her native
  The Holy Spirit is shed forth into the church. The      tongue. Beyond a shadow of doubt, the Church had
same Spirit who fills Christ in heaven as Head of         now become universal; already the gospel was go-
the church now comes to fill the hearts of those          ing out to the ends of the earth!
who are members of Christ's body!                           Filled with the Spirit these followers of Jesus re-
  There was the sound as of a mighty, rushing             joiced with an exuberant joy in all that God had
wind. No, there was no wind; nothing stirred in the       wrought!
upper room. Yet the sound was like a mighty, ir-
resistible wind of tornado proportions. The Spirit,         How about us, who at the end of the ages now
who is God, made His presence known in that               have the full revelation of the Spirit in the Holy
powerful sound. Was this what drew the thousands          Scriptures? With the return of our Lord so close at
of Jew-s and proselytes to the scene to discover what     hand, should we not show a like or even greater en-
happened? It is very well possible. There was also a      thusiasm?


                 Take the time to read and study
                                 the Standard Bearer!


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            389


                                                         Editor's Notes

  PubZication   News. Fresh from the presses in the                         We had hoped to present a summary of the agen-
week in which this is written is the  RFPA's latest                       da of our Protestant Reformed synod in this issue.
publication, Cabin's Calvinism. This is an attractive                     But the  Synodical Agenda reached me too late to
paperback reprint of two of Calvin's important                            allow for preparation of such a summary. We will
treatises, that on Eternal Predestination and that on                     try to present a report of the 1987 Synod's signifi-
the Secret Providence of God. Price of the book is                        cant decisions in the July issue.
$14.95. RFPA Book Club members will receive it                                     * * *  * * *  * *  *  *
for 30% less. Mail-orders should be sent to: RFPA
Publications, P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids,                                  In this issue we present another installment of
MI 49501.                                                                 the Rev. David J. Engelsma's series on "Serious
                                                                          Call or Well-meant Offer?" Space limitations
         *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *          prevented its inclusion in the May 15 issue.    HCH

EDITORIALS



                                             Why Evolution? (7)



   In our critique of Dr. Howard Van Till's  The                          This is beyond my capabilities. Neither is it incum-
Fourth  Day we are up to a consideration of Chapter                       bent upon me, when I have destroyed his position
5, entitled, "He Made the Stars Also." This is the                        from the point of view of Scripture, to reconstruct a
chapter in which the author's denial of the Biblical                      science of astronomy that is based upon and in har-
truth of creation and, in fact, his denial of the                         mony with Scripture and its principles. My sole
authority of Scripture come into sharp focus.                             concern is to demonstrate that Van Till's position is
   Before we enter into a critique of this chapter,                       contrary to Scripture and to show that while he
however, I wish to remind the reader of two things.                       claims that his "stellar evolution" is in harmony
                                                                          with Scripture, he in actual fact wrests the Scrip-
   In the first place, the fact that one does not agree                   tures and denies the Biblical truth of creation.
with Van Till's billions of years of stellar evolution
does not necessarily shut one up to the position of                         Having said this, I also want to emphasize that I
"scientific creationism," especially not if by this is                    do not believe for a moment that the whole ques-
meant the position of the men associated with the                         tion of "origins" belongs in the domain of scientific
Creation Science movement, the movement con-                              research. It is strictly a matter of faith. "Through
nected with the name of Dr. Henry Morris.                                 faith  we understand that the worlds were framed
Although I have much respect for men like Dr.                             by the word of God, so that things which are seen
Morris, I am not in agreement with the approach of                        were not made of things which do appear."
that movement, nor would I want to be bound by                            (Hebrews  11:3)  Van Till may call my literal under-
its scientific teachings.                                                 standing of Genesis 1 naive. So be it. Then I will be
  In the second place, it is not my purpose to                            naive. I think that he makes God out for a fool when
criticize Dr. Van Till's astronomical science, nor his                    he presents his God as laying a foundation of
scientific method, nor his scientific ability as such.                    billions of years on which He builds a  superstruc-


390                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



ture of a few thousand years - years which are fast                 his creatures. Rather, it means that because of the
rushing toward their end.                                           unity and integrity of Scripture, the whole provides
   And now let us turn to Chapter 5.                                insights into the understanding of its parts." Inter-
                                                                    preted, this means that Scripture must be inter-
   In the first place, it ought to be noted that Dr.                preted in such a way as to harmonize with the con-
Van Till certainly does not approach the question of                clusions of astronomers!
Scripture'.s teaching concerning creation  -
specifically, the creation of the heavenly bodies  -                  Significant in this connection, too, is the state-
objectively and unprepossessedly. This is plain                     ment in the preceding paragraph: "In making this
from the entire introductory portion of this chapter.               study, we will have occasion to apply a number of
I will quote the opening paragraph, p. 75:                          the principles that we sought to establish in earlier
                                                                    chapters. Whenever it seems appropriate (Notice
         During the past decade I have taught more than two         how arbitrary this is, and how contrary to the
       thousand students in an astronomy course called              sound principle that Scripture is its own inter-
       "Planets, Stars, and Galaxies." Toward the end of that
       course we study what astronomers have learned                preter. HCH), we will employ the vehicle-packag-
       about the life history of stars, or, as the topic is more    ing-content model for scriptural intepretation."
    generally known, "stellar evolution." As we shall see             I cannot refrain from remarking: how tremen-
    in Chapter Eight, this topic necessarily leads to the           dously complicated it becomes to interpret the sim-
       consideration of a time scale involving billions of
    years. There is abundant evidence that stars have               ple statement of Scripture which forms the title of
    been forming during most of the multi-billion-year              this fifth chapter of Van Till's book, "He made the
       span of cosmic history. Some stars were formed more          stars also."
    than ten billion years ago; others are forming at this            With the above in mind, I wish to consider with
    very moment.                                                    you what Dr. Van Till teaches concerning Genesis
  Bear in mind that the author is supposed to be                    1. He also has something to say about the Genesis 1
writing here about the "Biblical View." But before                  to 11; and we shall consider this later. But he comes
he ever begins to discuss the Biblical view, he                     to the following conclusion concerning Genesis 1
makes it plain that he `is committed to the idea of a               (p. 84):
universe which is billions of years old. Notice: "As                      Thus, the proper question to bring to Genesis 1 is
we shall see in Chapter Eight (Van Till is inserting                    "Who is God and how are man and the world related
his "Scientific View" here from Chapter 8. HCH),                        to him?" The answer is given in the form of a story
this topic necessarily leads to the consideration of a                  that illustrates the identity of God and his relationship
time scale involving billions of years." Notice: he                     to humanity and the cosmos. But the story so vividly
writes "necessarily." And again, "There is abun-                        portrays its action that we are irresistably (sic) led to
dant evidence that stars have been forming during                       wonder about the chronology of the narrative. In the
most of the multi-billion-year span of cosmic                           story, God the Creator is clearly portrayed as perform-
history." It is plain, therefore, that Van Till is com-                 ing his creative works within a six-day period and
mitted to an evolutionistic view a priori. He is now                    resting on the seventh. What must we make of that
forced to manipuZ& Genesis 1 somehow in order to                        chronology? What does the seven-day structure
bring it into harmony with his evolutionistic                           signify?
billions of years.                                                    Notice: Van Till decides what is the proper ques-
                                                                    tion. Notice, too: Genesis 1 is a story, not the record
  Meanwhile, he calls the truth of six-day creation                 of facts.
naive and employs the innuendo of referring to it as
"a favorite tradition-laden interpretation" which                     And how does Van Till answer his own ques-
must be relinquished "in order to increase one's                    tions? As follows:
understanding of the Bible." (p. 76)                                      The first point we should note is that, compared
                                                                       with the principal message of Genesis 1, matters of
  In the second place, Dr. Van Till does lip-service                    chronology and timetable are decidedly secondary in
to the principle that Scripture is its own interpreter.                importance. (By Van Till's say-so, of course. HCH) We
He writes, p. 77: "One of the important hermeneu-                       may have an intellectual curiosity about these mat-
tical principles that was reemphasized in the                           ters, and we may praise God the Creator that we live
Protestant Reformation is the principle of inter-                      in a day when that intellectual curiosity can be at least
preting Scripture by Scripture." This sounds good.                     partially satisfied, but we must recognize that ques-
  However, he immediately denies this principle                        tions of chronology are not pivotal. And we must
                                                                       recognize that questions of chronology beyond the
when he adds in the same paragraph: "This does                         limits of the human experience, whether past or
not mean, of course, that the Bible should ever be                     future, whether "in the beginning" or at "the end of
interpreted in isolation from the rest of  God's                       time," are not the subject of the biblical message. The
revelation in Creation or in the words or deeds of                     beginning lies shrouded in mist beyond human


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                             391



   memory, and the end will come "as a thief in the           work hypothesis proposed by N.H. Ridderbos in
   night."                                                    his book which was translated and published in
     The seven-day chronology that we find in Genesis 1       1957, as the author also acknowledges in a foot-
   has no connection with the actual chronology of the        note.
   Creator's continuous dynamic action in the cosmos.
   The creation-week motif is a literary device, a frame-       Thus it is that Van Till simply rids himself of the
   work in which a number of very important messages          factual character of Genesis 1, so that it does not
   are held. The chronology of the narrative is not the       stand in the way of the billions of years of his
   chronology of creation but rather the packaging in         astronomy. Genesis 1 is simply not fact; it is fiction!
   which the message is wrapped. The particular acts          Perhaps this fiction has some meaning; but it is fic-
   depicted in the Story of the Creator are not the events    tion nevertheless.
   of creative action reported with photographic realism        Where does this fiction originate? Certainly, not
   but rather imaginative illustrations of the way in
   which God and the Creation are related.                    from Scripture!                                  HCH
  The above is nothing but the so-called frame-




                         Evolution At Dordt College


  Recently I received information from a pastor in              ."I think we have to realize that as we look at this
the Reformed Church in the United States (German              whole picture, we ask the question: do mammals,
Reformed) to the effect that evolution is taught not          for example, have a common ancestry? Do all  tax-
only at Calvin College but also at Dordt College,             anemic phyla and kingdoms go back to a single
which, I think, is generally thought to be more con-          ancestral line? They are good questions, and they
servative than Calvin. The information which I                are not easily answered. On the basis of presently
received, however, shows `that Dordt does not play            available scientific evidence, I think we cannot be
second fiddle to Calvin when it comes to evolution.           totally sure. The strains of curious mammals - and
  Here is the story.                                          birds, too, for that matter  - show strong reptilian
                                                              skeletal structures, indicating a highly likely reptile
  On April 10, 1987, at Hillsdale College, there was          ancestry. Again, a transition from fish to lung fish
a debate between Dr. Duane T. Gish, from the                  to amphibians- does to some extent seem to be in
Institute for Creation Research, and Professor                evidence in the discovery of some species that have
Richard Hodgson, Professor of Astronomy at Dordt              been found.
College, Sioux Center, Iowa. The debate was on the
creation model of origins versus the evolution                  "Furthermore, as we look at the history of earth
model of origins, and it took place at Davis Middle           rocks  - and some micro-fossils go back more than
School, Hillsdale, Michigan. Dr. Gish debates and             three billion years  - we are confronted with the
lectures on creation science frequently and in many           fact that the simpler kingdoms . . . occurred before
places. Anyone who receives the literature of the             the more complex forms of life. So there seems to
Institute for Creation Research will know of this.            be a gradual diversion over time into more and
                                                              more complex life forms. The earliest life forms
  From my German Reformed pastor-reader I                     were exceedingly simple and did not even have
received information about Professor Hodgson's                nucleated cells. More recent life forms have been,
position in this debate. Later I verified that infor-         of course, multi-celled, with some very com-
mation from students' tape recordings of the                  plicated organs that are involved.
debate. And while the recordings were not as clear
as one could wish, due to, the distance of the                  "So to summarize the point I would like to say
recorders from the speakers, I believe the following          the following. The case for evolution, I believe, is a
transcribed remarks of Prof. Hodgson are accurate.            good one on the basis of available scientific
The punctuation and the paragraphing are mine.                evidence. The possibility, however, of divine crea-
Here are the concluding remarks of Prof.                      tion of some basic life forms, particularly at higher
Hodgson's speech in that debate:                              taxonomic levels, over widely spaced intervals of


392                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



time  - not just a few thousand years now  - is a           will explain everything, of course, will remain
possibility which cannot be ruled out on the basis          somewhat for the future to discover."
of present scientific observational evidence. And so          There you have it.
I think that that is about where we really have to
leave it. I think that there are some things that             Prof. Hodgson, of Dordt, is as much of an evolu-
strongly suggest evolution as an explanation for a          tionist as is Dr. Van Till, of Calvin.            HCH
lot of the varieties of life that we find. Whether it

GUEST ARTICLE
David J. Engelsma





                  Serious Call or Well-Meant Offer?



   As it comes to the sinner, whether elect or              come"  (v. 4);  the  king  punished those who were
reprobate, the preaching of the Gospel is a call  to`       careless about the call, with a wrath that indicates
the sinner. Not only does the Bible name the saving         that those fools have held  his  call,  his  dinner, and
summons to the elect "the call," but it also                his son in contempt.
describes the preaching itself, unaccompanied by
the secret operation of the Spirit in the heart of the        The call that consists of the preaching alone,
hearer, as a "call." Jesus teaches that the preaching       unaccompanied by the secret drawing of the Holy
by God's servants is a call in Matthew  2214: "For          Spirit within a man, can and must be sharply
many are called, but few are chosen." Indeed, the           distinguished from the saving call, which, as was
entire parable. of the marriage of the king's son, of       pointed out in the previous article, consists of both
which verse 14 is the conclusion, teaches this, for,        the preaching and the inner, converting work of the
throughout, the parable speaks of the king's call to        Spirit. Scripture sharply distinguishes between
men to "come unto the marriage." "Bid" and "bid-            them. It does so in the very passage that insists that
den, ' ' in our translation, are `call' and `called.'       the preaching alone is a serious call of God to every
Every man who comes under the Word of God,                  hearer, never to be taken lightly  - Matthew
whether Jew under the old covenant (vss. 3-7) or            22: 1-14. The distinction is made by the contrast be-
Gentile under the  ,new covenant (vss.  9-13), is           tween the call of many, on the one hand, and the
called. Also those who refuse to come to the mar-           election of only a few, on the other hand:
riage, and perish for `their folly, were called. Exactly       1.  Whereas the call that proceeds from election
this is the statement of verse 14: many more are            intends the salvation of every one called, the call by
called than are elect and saved.                            the preaching alone is not motivated by any pur-
  All are called  unto salvation:  "come unto the mar-      pose, intention, will, or desire of God for the salva-
riage" (v. 4).                                              tion of the one who is called. For the man called on-
                                                            ly by the preaching is not chosen; and election is
  All are called by God Himself. The king represents        the will, or purpose, of God unto salvation.
God, even as the marriage feast for the son, with its
bounties, is the salvation that God prepares in               2. Whereas the call that proceeds from election
Jesus. It is the  king  who sends out his servants to       has its origin in, and breathes, the love of God for
call men; the servants announce that the king is say-       every one called, the call by the preaching alone is
ing to the hearers, "I have prepared my dinner . . .        not extended by God to the man to whom it comes
                                                            out of any love that God has for him. For the man is
David J. Engelsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      not chosen; and election is simply God's choosing
Church of South Holland, Illinois.                          love.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               393



  3. Whereas the call that proceeds from election            come (vss. 3, 5).
is gracious, displaying Father's favorable attitude            4. It is God's imperative to a man  - the divine
towards His children and conveying to the elect the          command  - to come, i.e., believe in Jesus. The
power that delivers from sin and death, the call by          king says to the man, "come unto the marriage" (v.
the preaching alone is not grace to the one so called.       4). God confronts him with his solemn duty. The
Neither does it manifest God's favorable attitude            man has no option to decline, as one has the option
towards him; nor does it carry to him the irresisti-         to decline an invitation to an earthly wedding. To
ble power that saves from sin; nor does it benefit           decline, as many do, is to incur the wrath of God,
him that he has been called. For the man is not              for one has thus committed the enormous sin of not
chosen; and election is itself a decision God made           believing on the only begotten Son of God (vss. 7,
in the favorable attitude He had towards a sinner (II        13; cf. John 3:18). The man himself is fully and sole-
Timothy 1:9) and the source of the power of salva-           ly to blame for refusing to come. He knows it to be
tion, as well as of all spiritual blessings (Ephesians       his own fault, as is evident from the speechlessness
1:3, 4).                                                     of the man without a wedding garment (v. 12).
  4. Whereas the call that proceeds from election               One thing that this important passage of Scrip-
infallibly saves every one who is called, the call by        ture does not teach is that those who are called have
the preaching alone saves no one who is so called,           the ability to obey the command to come to the
indeed is incapable of saving anyone. For the sin-           marriage, i.e., the ability to believe on Jesus. They
ner, dead in his trespasses and sins, is not chosen;         actively will not to come (literally translated, verse
and it is election that effects the salvation of the sin-    3 reads: "and they willed not to come"); but it is
ner, by the calling. Election is not a dead plan that        neither stated nor implied that they were able to
merely decrees that some sinners will be saved.              will otherwise.
Election is the living, mighty, effectual will of God
that saves sinners, operating by means of the call.            Nor does the parable teach that it is God's pur-
The clear implication of Matthew  22:14 is that the          pose (intention, desire, or wish) that those who re-
few, comparatively, who come to Christ, come                 ject the call come to Christ, and be saved. It is His
because they are chosen by God.                              command  that they come. It by no means follows
                                                             from this that it is also His purpose that they come.
  What, then, is the call of the Gospel that consists        If this did follow, the call would be a frustrated ef-
only of the preaching to one who is not chosen, i.e.;        fort by God to save men and women whom He
the reprobate? Jesus' teaching about this call, in the       loves and whose salvation He desires. But the
parable of Matthew  22:lff.,  is clear:                      parable explicitly denies this; indeed, if we take the
  1. It is God's setting before a man, in the Word           conclusion of the parable as expressing the central
preached, His Son in the fulness of His Person and           truth of the parable, Jesus' main teaching here is a
saving work, as well as the fact and fulness of the          denial that the call goes out to all who hear as an ex-
finished work of salvation from sin, in the crucifix-        pression of God's love for all and with the divine
ion and resurrection of this Son. The servant tells          purpose of saving all. For, of the called,  many are
the man that the king has prepared his dinner and            not chosen!
that all things are ready (v. 4).                              Positively stated, the heart of the parable is this:
  2. It is God's making known to a man that the              although many others hear the preaching and are
way in which sinners receive and enjoy this salva-           confronted by the preaching's command to repent
tion is the way of coming to Jesus Christ in true            and believe, God's purpose with the preaching of
faith, which faith clothes the guilty sinner with the        the Gospel is the salvation only of a "few," namely,
wedding garment of the righteousness of Jesus (vss.          those whom He eternally elected in Christ;
4, 11-13).                                                   although many others hear of the love of God for
  3. It is God's announcing to him the promise               sinners, in that He gave His only begotten Son for
that everyone who comes will be received into the            their redemption, the love of God that proclaims
bliss and glory of participation at the divine mar-          the Gospel is a love for only a "few," namely, the
riage` festival, as well as the warning that everyone        elect.
who rejects the call will be damned, including the             Summing up, the Protestant Reformed Churches
man who rejects the call by a false coming, i.e., a          find in Holy Scripture a doctrine of the call contain-
"coming" that despises the righteousness of God in           ing these elements:
Jesus Christ, but goes about to establish its own
righteousness. The man who refuses to come to                   1. The preaching of the gospel by the church is
Christ does so, not because he has any fear that one         the living, authoritative Word of God, the very
who comes might not be received, but because he              voice of the risen Jesus Christ (Romans  10:14ff.).
`Imakes  light" of the marriage and is not willing to          2. God will have His gospel preached in all the


394                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



world in order to gather His chosen church by the             call of God. But it is not directed to those to whom
salvation of every elect person (John  6:37ff.).              it comes out of divine love for them; nor does it ex-
  3. The call to the elect is effectual unto their            press God's purpose that they be saved; nor does
salvation by the inner, converting work of the Holy           God give them His Spirit in their hearts, as the
Spirit upon their hearts, minds, and wills, in perfect        preaching comes to them. This call confronts men
fulfillment of God's purpose of love, in the decree           with their duty, exposes their depravity, renders
of election.                                                  them inexcusable, and hardens them in their awful
                                                              rebellion against God.
  4. The effectual, saving call, consisting of
preaching accompanied by the inner work of the,                 Holding this Biblical doctrine of the call, the
Spirit, must be sharply distinguished from the                Protestant Reformed Churches are constrained to
preaching alone, unaccompanied by any regenerat-              repudiate the "well-meant offer of the gospel."
ing operation of the Spirit. This latter is also a call, a                                                      (to be continued)

ALL ARO.UND US
Gise J. Van Baren





                            Gray Letter Edition Of The Bible
                             Moratorium On Mission Work?




Gray Letter Edition of the Bible:                             in which higher criticism goes. Then let none be
  We've all seen the "red-letter" edition of the Bi-          deceived into thinking that a "scholar" can tamper
ble where the words of Jesus are all printed in dark          with the first chapters of Genesis without ultimate-
red type. Now a new edition is being proposed by              ly doing the same thing this article recounts. I
"scholars" who have sought to determine if Jesus              found the answer of one minister to the following
really said what the Bible says he said. These,               quotation very interesting. .I trust you will enjoy it
through their "scholarly" studies have decided that           too.
much of the New Testament record of Christ's say-                       New York (RNS)  - There was no Jewish trial of
ings, and of events there described, are not, in fact,           Jesus before his crucifixion, according to a group of
authentic. It has been proposed that an edition of               Scripture scholars trying to determine the authenticity
the Bible be printed to reflect this "fact". The                      of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life.
words which the "scholars" determine are gen-                           That conclusion  - just one of several that run
uinely Christ's words, would still be printed in dark            counter to long-held beliefs - was arrived at by a vote
red. Those words of His which were possibly                      of scholars attending the fifth session of the Jesus
spoken by Him (though the "scholars" have reason                 Seminar. The seminar is an organization of some 250
                                                                 experts in religion and New Testament studies that
to doubt this), would be printed in a light red.                 has been meeting periodically since March 1985.
Those words attributed to Christ but, according to
these "scholars", not truly spoken by Him, would                        At a Feb. 25-27 gathering at United  Methodist-
be printed in a light gray. The following lengthy                related Willamette University in Salem, Ore., about
                                                                 40 of the group members - the average attendance of
quotation from the Christian News, March 13, 1987,               each session  - concluded that "there was no Jewish
gives an idea of the extent of this horrible enter-              trial of Jesus before his execution by Roman authority,
prise. It gives one, too, a clear idea of the direction          and the Jewish crowd did not participate in his con-
                                                                 demnation."
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed                  Other conclusions of participants in the Salem ses-
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                 sion:


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        395



     -It is unlikely that Jesus' conversations with this            authentic. Others gave it the gray, saying that the fact
   disciples at the Last Supper were those recorded in the          that the request was answered by a Gentile soldier
   Bible.                                                           giving Jesus wine vinegar smacked of late Pauline an-
     -Jesus' words on the cross, asking why God had                 tinomianism and universalism. Other participants
   forsaken him, probably were not spoken by him.                   gave it a provisional approval, on the assumption that
                                                                    while it might be logical that Jesus would be assailed
     -Jesus, while on the cross, probably did not speak             by thirst, they knew of no non-biblical ancient sources
   the words asking God to forgive his persecutors.                 that actually connected requests for the assuaging of
     Dr. Marcus Borg, professor of religion at the                  thirst with the latter stages of crucifixion. Then they
   University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., one of               held their vote, and after a deal was struck that one
   the scholars at the Salem meeting, told RNS in a                 man would vote yes on "I thirst" if another would
   telephone interview that the group felt there was not            change his vote on "Father, forgive them," it made it
   enough historical evidence to back up the Gospel ac-             into the "new New Testament canon."
   counts of Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin.                        It is devoutly to be hoped that these butchers of the
     He said the group's conclusion that the Jews did not           sacred text will come to their senses before they
   have "any direct responsibility for the death of Jesus"          destroy the faith of too many people. Otherwise they
   was significant since the Gospel accounts have often             will have all eternity to discuss and vote on whether
   been used to justify Christian Persecution of the Jews           or not they  really  heard Him say, the last time they
   through the centuries.                                            ever saw Him, "Depart from me, ye workers on iniq-
     Various Bible scholars have been urging Christians             uity. I never knew you."
   to eliminate what they consider to be "anti-Semitism"           The above gives some idea of the direction that is
   in the New Testament. Dr. Norman Beck, an                     taken whenever the infallibility of the Bible is
   American Lutheran clergyman who teaches at the                denied. When the Bible is regarded as an untrust-
   ALC's  Texas Lutheran Collage in Seguin, Texas, and           worthy book, one which man must edit, then
   who has the support of top officials of the ALC, argues       nothing can be considered true unless man declares
   in his  Mature Christianity  - the Recognition and            it so. For this reason, also, the church must stead-
   Repudiation of the Anti-Jewish Polemic of the New Testa-      fastly condemn and reject every view of Scripture
   ment  that the "anti-Jewish polemic" and  "anti-
   Semitism" in the New Testament should be removed.             that questions the reliability of any part.
   He is working on a translation of the Bible which will
   eliminate all sections of the Bible which he considers        Moratorium On Mission Work?:
   "anit-Jewish" and which Jews find offensive . . . .
  A letter written in response to the above provides               The  R.E.S. News Exchange,  March 10, 1987,
some interesting observations as well:                           points out that in heathen lands, there are specific
                                                                 reminders that mission work is not appreciated.
     . . . Upon reading which of the words of Christ on          Christians may do their "good works" provided
   the cross they excised from the record, I began to wish       these do not proselytize. The article states:
   fervently that there were some place to find a record
   of their discussions. Why should "Father, forgive                  According to an EPS report, Indian President Zail
   them. .  .I'fall by the way, while "It is finished" stays?       Singh has urged Christian Missionaries to declare a
   Why axe "Eli, Eli, lama  sabachthani" (I don't suppose           "self-imposed moratorium" on efforts to convert Hin-
   the fact that the Gospels record the original Aramaic            dus. He made his appeal while. attending a corner-
   made any irnpression on the Seminarians) but not "I              stone laying for a church-sponsored "children's
   thirst"?                                                         village" here. Singh said there is enough for church
                                                                    people to do "in terms of service to the country's poor
     Might it have happened in this way? When the                   and destitute. That is where God lives." Most Indians
   discussion turned to "I thirst," some of the scholars            are Hindus; some Hindu groups have increasingly
   decided that it seems like a logical thing for a man on          demanded a government ban on conversions.
   the cross to say, and so "red-lined' it as undoubtedly


               Take the time to read and study
                                  the Standard Bearer!
                             You'll be happy you did!


396                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                  i




         Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                        WI


  In the last article in the  Standard Bearer on this          If we remember this, then it is also clear that
subject, we discussed what genetic engineering was           scientists can take, e.g., a grown man, take' one cell
all about. In this article we want to be a bit more          from his body, do something to the genetic code of
specific and describe some of the things that are            that one cell so that the instructions which it gives
already being done through genetic engineering               are different; but such changes will effect only that
and some of the things which scientists contem-              one cell and the function it performs in the body as
plate doing in the future.                                   a whole. They can, so to speak, clip off a specific
  Many benefits have already been reaped from                part of the DNA chain and replace this clipped off
genetic engineering in the production of food, both          segment with a different gene. Quite obviously,
fruits and vegetables and meat from animals,                 this will alter the code and the commands which
chickens, turkeys and fish. Genetic engineering in           the genes give to the cells will be changed. These
fruits and vegetables has produced larger crops of           changed commands will alter the things the cell
food, more nutritious foods, different kinds of              does - for good or for bad.
foods and more appealing foods. It has been a fac-
tor in what has sometimes been called the "green               Up to this point, scientists face two major prob-
revolution," by which scientists hope to eradicate           lems. One problem is that they do not know what
starvation Tram the globe. Applied to various meat-          every gene in this DNA does. In fact, they know on-
producing creatures, genetic engineering has made            ly a small fraction of the DNA structure and what
it possible to grow animals, fish and poultry more           function each gene plays in a cell. They have only
rapidly, to produce better flavored and more nutri-          begun to "map out" the DNA and its genetic code.
tious meat products, and has therefore made meat             Before they can do all the things they want to do,
more widely available to the consumer. But these             they will have to know precisely what every gene
are aspects of the matter which are not of a great           does. There are, so scientists figure, about
deal of concern to us.                                       5,000,OOO  genes in all, of which at least 100,000
                                                             define the human form. And all these are found in
  It is when genetic engineering is used on human            every single cell in the human body.
beings that things get very sticky.
  But here too, one must be aware of the fact that             The other problem is that the human body con-
genetic engineering is used for different purposes.          tains about 100 trillion cells. To alter every single
In order to understand this, one must make at this           cell would obviously be an impossible task. The
point a crucial distinction. Our readers will recall         result is that any changes brought about by genetic
that in the last article we mentioned the fact that          engineering in an individual affect that individual
the genetic code-which determine all the character-          only; they have no effects upon that individual's
istics of a living creature and which is contained in        children. Now this is not so bad, of course, as long
the DNA, is found in every single cell of the body.          as one wants to make changes only in one in-
Consider that the human body has around 100                  dividual. In fact, it is good that these changes die
trillion cells, and each one possesses this identical        when the individual dies. But this is not the whole
genetic code lodged in the DNA.                              story. Especially in connection with hereditary
                                                             diseases such as Downs Syndrome, e.g., scientists
Herman C. Hanho is professor of Church History and New       would like to get rid of the disease, not only in one
Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.               individual, but in all the progeny of that individual.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 397



You see, scientists have concluded (rightly or             insulin-producing organ) and others can con-
wrongly we cannot say) that Downs Syndrome is              ceivably be cured in an individual through genetic
the result of a defective gene somewhere in the            engineering. And if the defective genes can be
DNA. Now it would be impossible to cure the                made whole at the moment of conception, the cure
Downs Syndrome in a child already  .born because           will be passed on to all one's posterity. One would
every single cell of the 100 trillion would have to be     think that this is a beneficial aspect of genetic
changed - or at least every single cell whose func-        engineering and that it belongs to the general area
tion contributes to this disease. And even if this         of disease prevention and control. Especially
were possible, that would mean that all the changes        parents who have gone through the agony of seeing
brought about would only be good for that in-              children with these dread diseases could long for
dividual. Any progeny which he or she might have           the day when the techniques to eradicate them are
would still come into the world with the defective         perfected.
gene.                                                         However, there are complications - not so much
  Thus the cure of hereditary diseases seems to be         with respect to these diseases - but in other related
an impossible goal.                                        areas. A great deal has been done, e.g., in this field
  But wait a moment. Scientists have hit upon              in the treatment of dwarfism. It seems that already
another technique which holds out hope even for            the techniques have been perfected which will
this. Everyone knows that every human being                enable people with dwarf-like characteristics to
develops in the womb of its mother from one singZe         grow to natural sizes and proportions. While this
cell which cell is formed at the moment of concep-         would fall under disease control and cure, many
tion when the sperm of the father unites with the          people, aware of this, have begun bombarding doc-
ovum of the mother and when the DNA of both are            tors with requests to have this treatment performed
fused into one chain and one genetic code. (Again,         on their sons who are below average height.
one can only. stand in awe at the handiwork of             Whether they do not like to have their boys called
God!) But you see, scientists, knowing this, have          "twirps" or whether they envision a career for
reasoned that if they can get their hands on that one      their boys in professional basketball, they would
cell before it begins to divine, and alter the genetic     like to have their boys grow taller than the genes
structure of that one cell so as to get rid of the         those boys possess make possible.
defective gene, and to replace it with a good one,
not only will they free the child from that genetic          And it is in this area that genetic engineering gets
defect, but that disease brought about by such a           complicated and troublesome. This technique,
genetic defect will no longer be present in that child     which can make short boys taller, can also be used
or in any children which that child may sub-               to enhance strength, alter intelligence, prevent ag-
                                                           ing (so it is claimed), alter the size of noses and ears,
sequently produce.                                         change the color of hair and eyes, and bring
  But one realizes immediately that it is not so easy      changes in all sorts of other characteristics which
to get a hold of that one cell formed at the moment        are part of the human form. In fact, if one can get
of conception. And this is why in vitro fertilization      one's hands on the first cell from which a human
(which we discussed in an earlier article) is being        being develops or manipulate the fusion of sperm
considered not only for infertile couples, but also        and egg, one can even determine the sex. This latter
for couples who carry defective genes which may            is becoming increasingly a matter of interest, for
result in hereditary diseases. With in vitro fertiliza-    parents are often quite fixed in their own minds on
tion, one has that first cell in his laboratory and can    whether they want a boy or a girl. And, in fact,
do with it what he wants.                                  some scientists speak of building new people "from
  Now the fact of the matter is that some heredi-          the ground up" with a complete set of superior
tary diseases involve many different cells in many         genes.
different organs, and some hereditary diseases in-           And, of course, finally, the hope is that through
volve only cells within one organ. If the latter is the    genetic engineering the quality of the whole human
case, an individual can be cured of a hereditary           race can be improved. Scientists are quite certain
disease with relative ease - although again, he will       that, given enough time, they will be able to change
not be able to pass on his cure of that disease to his     at will this genetic structure of man so that all
offspring. It is in this latter area that work has         disease can be eradicated, so that all aging proc-
already been done. Such diseases as ADA deficien-          esses can be stopped, so that all people will be
cy (which lessens or destroys the body's ability to        healthy, strong, intelligent, beautiful, and attractive
fight disease through affecting the immune system          with characteristics appealing to all. Genetic
- resulting in so-called "bubble children"),  Tay-         engineering holds out the hope of eradicating the
Sachs disease, diabetes (which involves only the           world's ills and creating utopia in the world.


398                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



IN HIS FEAR
Arie den  Havtog





                      Immoralitv and Worldliness
                                                  L





   One of the greatest dangers for worldliness in our       into our very homes and corrupt our souls and the
modern world is in connection with the great evil of        souls of our children.
immorality. We live in a world that is filled with            It is quite obvious that immorality is one of the
immorality. That has of course always been the              chief instruments of the devil. By means of im-
case, beginning immediately after the fall, when            morality he has enslaved the world. Through the
Adam and Eve first knew that they were naked,               evil of immorality most terrible diseases have
and their hearts were filled with lust and shame.           become epidemics. So utterly enslaved is man to
Over the ages the immorality of the world has               this great evil that he will spend millions of dollars
grown worse and worse. Today it affects virtually           and marshal great armies of the world's best scien-
every area of life. It is prevalent on every level of       tists to find cures for these dreaded diseases. Mean-
society, from the most honored and respected of             while he ignores and hates the law of God which, if
the world to the lowest. We live in a world of              lived by, would be the simple cure. Through im-
debauchery and filth, a virtual Sodom and  Gom-             morality millions of homes are broken up every
morah. God's holy ordinance of marriage is de-              year and the world has been filled with misery and
spised. Men are enflamed with lust one for another          wretchedness so terrible that it is a prelude to hell.
and abuse their own bodies and those of their               The devil uses great strategems to destroy even the
neighbors. Never before in the history of the world         Christian, his home, and his church through im-
has this been engaged in more openly and without            morality. He uses the very prevalence of immorali-
shame. It is considered one of the greatest forms of        ty to spread the philosophy; "everyone is doing it, it
excitement and entertainment. The most immoral              is not so bad." He can make us become accustomed
and wicked are the most honored and glorified. It is        to this great evil and lose our spiritual sensitivity to
glorified in the theatre. There are virtually no            the evil of it in the sight of God. He works little by
popular movies that do not have immorality and              little, beginning with small compromises and
adultery as one of their major themes. The same             leading on to more serious ones. Many of today's
immoral movies that are shown in the theatre can            churches already tolerate and condone some of the
also be seen in the privacy of one's home on the            grossest immorality. Even in our own circles signs
television screen, and especially today, since the          of this great sin are on the increase.
advent of the video tape industry. Book shelves in
public book stores are filled with the grossest im-           How urgent that we by the grace of God main-
morality and pornography. Magazines which open-             tain true holiness in this area of our life. Never
ly portray nudity and the vilest immorality are sold        before has the call of the Lord been more urgent.
by the hundreds and thousands. The modern media             "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par-
constantly bombards us with sexual innuendo.                takers of her sins, and that ye receive not her
Everything from soup to nuts is sold through an ap-         plagues," Revelation  18:4. Yet how many who call
peal to man's sexual lust.                                  themselves Christians are taking a less and less
                                                            serious attitude in regard to this sin.
   It is inevitable and inescapeable that all of this is
going to affect us. If we are not careful, it will enter      God first made sex a beautiful and holy thing. He
                                                            created man male and female with all the beautiful
Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Protestant Reformed        distinctions of that difference. He also ordained the
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                              holy bond of marriage. He made sex exclusively for


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               399



that holy bond to be used for the expression of in-      must dress modestly so that by all means he may
timate, holy, and faithful love between husband          avoid immoral  .thoughts in his fellow man. We
and wife. He has commanded us in His law to live         must recognize that following the world in its im-
chastely within and without the bond of marriage         moral dress is the grossest form of worldliness.
for His glory. He has told us to keep our bodies holy      God's word has very strong warnings against the
and not to use our bodies as instruments of sin and      great evil of immorality. "Be ye therefore followers
unrighteousness to defraud our neighbor.                 of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ
  All the immorality of the world stands under the       also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an
curse of God. It is an abomination to Him. He will       offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
judge it in terrible holy and just judgment. God is      savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or
not mocked. His wrath is revealed from heaven            covetousness, let it not be once named among you,
against all the wickedness of men.                       as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish
  As Christians we have been spiritually trans-          talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but
formed by the grace and Spirit of God. We have           rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no
been made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Our             whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
bodies have been made temples of the Holy Spirit         man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the
through His indwelling in our hearts. Therefore,         kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive
out of love for God and in fear and reverence for        you with vain words; for because of  .these  things
Him, we must keep our bodies holy. In the age in         cometh the wrath of God upon the children of dis-
which we live this will involve a constant spiritual     obedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with
battle. We will have to be very serious and very         them," Ephesians 5: l-7. May God give us the grace
careful to avoid the temptations of the devil. We        to be serious about these words and to take them to
will have to be strong in His grace and keep our         heart in all of their meaning and application.
hearts and minds pure from all the corruption of           We also must guard our homes and give instruc-
the world. We must be radically different from the       tion to our children. We must teach our children
world and not be ashamed of this.                        about the beauty and sanctity of sex and the great
                                                         evil of immorality. The evil world desperately
  In our own personal lives we must live chastely        wants to teach our children about sex so that by
and modestly before the Lord. We must not yield to       means of this instruction it can corrupt our children
the temptations of the world. At home and at work        and entice them into immorality. At a surprisingly
we must not join in the world's constant immoral         young age our children will already be exposed to
joking and sexual innuendo. We must be vigilant to       all kinds of immoral talk. As parents we will do our
keep our hearts and minds pure and holy. We must         duty and teach our children about this area of life
maintain the old traditions of our godly ancestors       before they are corrupted by the world. We must
which forbade joining in the world's dance, and go-      be careful about the books that enter into our
ing to the world's theatre, and singing the world's      homes. A serious Christian parent will see the
songs. I know that this is a pretty rare perspective     urgency of monitoring what his children read. It is
on life today. Nevertheless it is obvious that the       a fact that television is becoming more and more
movies and books and songs of the world are              common in our covenant homes. That may not all
becoming more and more wicked and immoral.               be condemned on the basis of the word of God. Yet
There is something very seriously wrong with a           it is also a sad fact that more and more immoral pro-
Christian who can find enjoyment in the wicked           grams are being watched in our homes. There are
entertainment of the world. No amount of high            very few today that are not immoral. Many Chris-
sounding philosophy of being an "enlightened and         tian parents are losing their spiritual sensitivity to
mature age," no amount of claims about it being          this and are slowly compromising and allowing pro-
"good art" is going to change the fact that all the      grams that have "just a little" immoral language
world's immorality is an abomination to the Lord.        and suggestion of uncleanness. We have to be con-
A Christian who does not separate himself                cerned about this. We have to be concerned about
spiritually from all of this is going to do great        our young people as they are growing up in a world
damage to his soul. Even in our dress we must be         where most of their peers and classmates are "sex-
different. I know that sounds terribly old fashioned     ually active" and where being popular is dependent
and strict. But a serious Christian must pay atten-      on a liberal and "uninhibited" perspective of life.
tion to this. He or she cannot simply follow the         We have to teach our children about boy/girl rela-
fashion of the world. He or she does not have the        tionships. We have to urge them to keep them-
right shamefully to expose the body to the lustful       selves holy and pure while they are dating. We
spectacle of sinful man. Neither does going to the       have to warn them not to place themselves in
beach give one the excuse for this. The Christian        tempting circumstances and not to underestimate


400                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the power of this sin or overestimate their own             often difficult, and involves a great spiritual  strug-
power of self control. We have to teach them what           gle. Yet it has abundant reward and blessing. What
is honorable in the sight of God. We have to teach          is more blessed on earth than a home where  hus-
them about the reward and blessing of waiting until         band and wife live faithfully with one another and
marriage.                                                   by the grace of God avoid the sin of unfaithfulness
   As the world becomes more and more immoral               and immorality? This is the sphere that is healthy
the walk of the Christian becomes more and more             and stable for the nurture of children in the way of
difficult. The temptations of the world strongly ap-        the Lord. Above all, this is the place where the
peal to our sinful flesh. The world presents the way        favor and blessing of the Lord are found. Here the
of immorality as one that is filled with great excite-      glory of the Lord is revealed and here is the hope of
ment and pleasure. God's way of holiness is the op-         eternal happiness and blessing.
posite of the way of the world. To live in holiness is

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Ronald H. Hanko





                           God Is A God Of Truth (2)



  We have seen that the ninth commandment,                  ceedingly broad the commandment is in its con-
though expressed negatively, requires positively            demnation of sin. But it is also broad in its implied
that we love the truth, also that this love for the         positive requirements. Obviously, the positive call-
truth is nothing less than the love of God Himself,         ing to speak the truth is something that applies in
Who is a God of truth and without iniquity (Deut.           every area of life and not just in our civic respon-
32:4). Every form of deceit and falsehood is, there-        sibilities. We must, as Scripture teaches, be of the
fore, an act of violence against God and His glory.         truth (Jn.  l&37) and  waZk in  it (II Jn., 4).
  The sin- explicitly forbidden in the ninth com-              The commandment is important, then, first of all
mandment is the sin of "bearing false witness,"             in our own personal relationships with God, par-
what we today would call perjury. This is, how-             ticularly in prayer, repentance, and the study and
ever, only the grossest form of sin against God in          reading of His Word. Prayer, for example, is essen-
the whole matter of loving, knowing, and speaking           tially nothing more than truth-speaking. That
the truth. As with all the other commandments that          means in the first place that it must be much more
are prohibitive, the ninth commandment means to             than just presenting our "want lists" to God. It
forbid all forms of deception, lying, and evil speak-       must be before all else a confession of the truth con-
ing in forbidding the gross sin of lying under oath         cerning God Himself in His high glory. Thus and
(perjury).                                                  only thus does prayer become what Scripture
   It is necessary to remember this in order to             teaches it ought to be, an act of worship. Christian
understand the strong statement of the Belgic Con-          prayer is often very weak at this point, being little
fession, that "all men are liars and more vain than         more than a kind of information session held for
vanity itself" (Art. VII). We see this in the world         God's benefit. Speaking God's truth in prayer
and in our own lives only when we realize how ex-           means too, that we not only speak the truth about
                                                            Him in our prayers, but the truth about all other
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity Protestant Reformed    things as He reveals it in His Word. This is crucial
Church, Houston, Texas.                                     for ourprayers. It means that even when we come


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                            401



with our own needs, cares, griefs, and troubles, we        the'life of the church. This sin, Solomon says, adds
speak of them to God in harmony with everything            wood to the fire and coals to burning coals. The end
that He Himself tells us about them in His Word,           of tale-bearing is the end of strife, therefore, for
not simply as we feel moved to speak of them. In           where there is no wood the fire goes out (Prov.
His Word God tells us the truth concerning the im-         26:20, 21).
portance of our various needs. There He tells us              We have the idea that we may say anything at all
what we must seek first, when we must pray "Thy            about others as long as it is true, and forget that the
will be done," and how we may be certain in our            Scriptures solemnly enjoin not only the speaking of
praying that our prayers are truly heard and               the truth, but the speaking of it in love (Eph. 4: 15).
answered by Him.                                           Without love all our speaking of the truth is only
  Our repentance beautifully illustrates this point.       vain jangling, whether we speak it about God or
Repentance is not a matter of informing God about          about other persons. The difference between the
our sins. He knows them better than we do. Rather          sins of slander and back-biting lies here. Slander is
it simply means that we speak God's truth about            a matter of telling deliberate falsehood about
our selves and our sins by way of humbling                 another to his hurt. The sin of backbiting is the sin
ourselves and showing our contrition. Among                of telling to the wrong persons rumors or even the
other things this means, for example, that we not          truth about another to his hurt. The only way of
only confess the actual evil we have done, but in-         love is the way mandated in Scripture in Matthew
clude in our confession the truth that all our sins        18:15-20. These guidelines, laid down by Christ,
are the result of our depravity, as David does in          show how we are to deal with a brother's faults and
Psalm  51:5. To say anything less is really finally a      weaknesses by covering and hiding them as much
denial of our sinfulness, and as John says in I John       as possible for the sake of preserving his place and
l:lO, if we in any way deny our sin or sins, we not        character among the other members of the
only deceive ourselves, but make God Himself a             church. This is the love that covers a multitude of
liar because His truth is not in us (vs. 8).               sins (I Pet.  4:8). It is very easy for us to convince
  As far as prayer is concerned, then, the Scrip-          ourselves that we are only interested in the welfare
tures which alone teach God's truth (Belgic Confes-        of the church or of a brother, or that we are deeply
sion, Article VII) must be the foundation and              troubled by certain sins or weaknesses, and so
source of all our praying and other acts of worship        engage in these sins, but the Word of God is very
and devotion, especially those that involve our            clear on this point. Going only to the brother is the
speech. As John Bunyan once said, "It is                   way of love, and if we have not that love we are
blasphemy, or at best vain babbling, when the peti-        nothing (I Cor.  13:2). Gossip, rumor-mongering,
tion is unrelated to the Book."                            and tale-bearing are as much sin against the ninth
                                                           commandment as perjury and lying, because they
  As important as this commandment is for our              are without love, always the love of God, even
personal life of devotion to God, it is even more im-      though they may say what is factually true.
portant for the fellowship of the church. Since that
fellowship is "in the truth" it can be enjoyed by the        This whole matter is also important in controver-
members of the church only when they learn and             sy. We must follow the rules of decency and good
practice the speaking of the truth to one another          order in dealing with matters of controversy, and
(Eph.  4:15, I Jn.  3:18). And it must be God's truth      not "settle" these matters by whispering and
that is spoken, both as it concerns Him, and as it         gossip. For the church at large that way of decency
concerns the life and members of the Church. The           and order is the way of protest and appeal and
truth must be the substance of our encouraging one         deliberation on the floor of the church, assemblies.
another, admonishing one another, and even speak-          All too often such matters are decided before they
ing about one another in the Church. Nothing else          ever come to the assemblies, and the result is harm
can comfort the brethren in their afflictions,             and grief in the church.
whether those be the pains of the body, or the               We must remember what Augustine says in con-
distresses of the soul. Nothing but the truth can          nection with such sins, that the tongue is a terrible
restore an erring brother or sister, and only the          instrument of murder, not of flesh and blood, but of
truth can build up and edify the church.                   reputations and brotherly love. It causes greater
  One matter that needs attention here is that             wounds, he says, than those of the sword, wounds
among the sins forbidden by Scripture under the            which no physician can heal. In the same vein
ninth commandment is the sin of backbiting, also           James tells us that the fires kindled by the tongue
called the sin of whispering, tale-bearing, tattling       are the fires of hell itself.
and gossiping. There is perhaps no other sin that is         Along with such sins as back-biting and gossip
so great a cause of strife, division, and trouble in       must be mentioned the sin of listening to  tale-


402                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



bearers. It is no less an evil than the actual  tale-       (Gen.  3:1), to tell only part of the truth. Often on
bearing, and brings if possible even more wood to           the mission field and in evangelism the church does
the fires of strife. As Solomon says, an angry              this while priding herself in her faithfulness to the
countenance is the only proper answer to a back-            gospel and her commission. Without telling
biting tongue, because it drives such a tongue away         deliberate falsehood, the church can and does lie
(Prov. 25:23).                                              simply by failing to preach the whole counsel of
  Speaking God's truth is important also in our             God, or by covering up and hiding certain doctrines
relationship to the church and world around us.             that it deems difficult or obstructive to the progress
Speaking the truth is the heart of our witness to the       of the gospel. There are many excuses for this, but
world, but it must be the truth which we speak,             the Word of God is clear in the example of Paul
else our confession is nothing but boasting. That           (Acts 20: 18-27).
truth must be spoken as a witness, not only in giv-           These, of course, are only some examples of the
ing an answer for our hope (I Pet.  3:15), but in all       positive and negative requirements of the ninth
the obligations and day-to-day business of life. This       commandment, but they are sufficient to show that
is difficult especially in our work because the world       these sins infect the church and the people of God.
operates by lies and deceit, so that the Christian          Only the grace of God in the cross of Christ can
worker or businessman will be at a definite disad-          heal, and for our healing Christ, our Lord, spoke
vantage in the world. But for God's sake he must            truth even in the agony of His last sufferings. Thus
speak and do truth, not only in buying and selling,         He paid for our lying and deceitfulness, and now
but in seeking a job, in the problems and difficulties      His obedience is our example, His Spirit our
of his work, in the paying of taxes, and in all that        teacher, His grace our strength and guard against
belongs to making his daily living.                         these sins. And so, speaking the truth in love, we
  In the church it must needs be emphasized today           not only enjoy the blessed fellowship of saints,
that speaking the truth means speaking the whole            make a good confession before the world, and
truth. If is a form of the lie, practiced first by Satan    find in prayer the way to God, but grow up in all
                                                            things into Him Who is the Head (Eph. 4:15).

THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                            Turned In God's Mercy



  There are times in our lives, as children of God,         grace got some strong messages from God. In her
when we are not spiritually strong and sensitive.           spiritual weakness she did not take heed at first,
Such was the case with Naomi during the ten or              but God's grace did turn her and made her return to
more years that she sojourned in Moab. The confes-          the promised land.
sion that Ruth made when Naomi urged her to stay
in Moab, when she, Naomi, was leaving to go back              It may not have been her choice to leave that prom-
to Canaan, reveals that Naomi was a child of God            ised land for bread. It may not have been her
and did have a spiritual life. For clearly she had          flesh that wanted bread rather than the words that
shown her faith before her daughters-in-law, or             proceed from God's mouth. But it can also be said
otherwise the confession of Ruth could not have             that she had no choice about going to Moab, when
taken place. But even then Naomi's spiritual life           there was a sore famine in Canaan. Her husband
had its weaknesses; and she needed, and in God's            Elimelech decided to take the family, and she was


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                           403



 obliged to go along. We do not read, however, that        but also lie to have his life for which he sought
 she strenuously objected and urged Elimelech to           bread, spared. One sin leads to another sin. But
 commit their way to God. And the fact that she            God returned Sarah to him and brought both of
 stayed there for at least ten years, when she had a       them back to Canaan. Peter also cut himself off
 choice to return, does suggest that she was in full       completely from Jesus, denying Him three times
 agreement when they left for Moab.                        and saying that he did not know Him at all. But
    A striking and sad fact is not only that she stayed    God turned him in His mercy by causing the cock
 in Moab for ten years, but also that it took more         to crow right then and there, and causing Peter to
 than three hard blows to make her return to Ca-           weep bitterly because of his sin.
 naan. Her husband died in Moab and was buried                So it was with Naomi. She was an elect child of
 outside the promised land. Physically Naomi was           God whose faith never left her, though it was
. touched, but not spiritually. Then came two more         covered up by fleshly desires. God did not with-
 blows in God's mercy and grace. Her two sons              draw His grace from her. He even gave her the
 were taken from her by death, and also were buried        grace to reveal her faith before her  daughters-in-
 outside the promised land. And not until she hears        law and used her to instruct Ruth in the things of
 that the famine is over and that there is abundant        Christ, the Bread of Life. She did move away from
 bread in Canaan, does she pack her things  and.           Christ as He was typified in the tabernacle and the
 begin to return.                                          priesthood in Canaan; but she could not move
   We are not informed how long it was after the           away from God's mercy and grace. And so in God's
 death of her sons that she heard of the end of the        time and way she was moved to go back to Canaan.
 famine; nor for that matter how soon after                  Now Moab was in two ways connected with that
 Elimelech's death the two sons married Moabitish          promised land. Physically and geographically it
 women. We do get the impression that Naomi was            bordered on that part of the land which God gave to
 attracted to these daughters-in-law, and she prob-        the twelve sons of Jacob, being just south of the
 ably did find it hard to leave them and go back to        land east of the Jordan river that was given to
 Canaan. Sins do get us deeper into trouble, and           Reuben and his seed. It was even through this land
 make us more interested in the material than the          that Israel came when travelling from Egypt to the
 spiritual.                                                land west of the Jordan river, the heart of the prom-
   But after these severe blows, and God's merciful        ised land. So Elimelech and his family did not
 act of bringing her word that He was taking care of       make a big step, but only went next door. But are
 His people in Canaan, she does set out to go back to      temptations not always that way? Little by little
 where she belonged and from where she should              Satan tries to lure us until we are far away.
 never have gone. Deep inside her, as an elect, born-        What is more, the Moabites were related to the
 again child of God, Naomi did want the words that         Israelites. They were descendants of Lot. There
 proceed from the mouth of God. She did want to go         was a blood tie between Abraham and Lot. And it is
 where Christ was foreshadowed, typified, and was          interesting to read in Deuteronomy  2:9: "And the
 before the eyes of God's people. There in Canaan          Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites,
 was the Bread of Life, while in Moab was only the         neither contend with them in battle: for I will not
 bread of death.                                           give thee their land for a possession; because I have
   Man's body does need bread in order to live. But        given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession."
 that bread spoils, and can benefit the beasts of the      All this must not lead us to conclude that what
 field. The Bread of Life is everlasting and feeds an      Elimelech and Naomi did was not such a grievous
 everlasting spiritual life. And though we may seek        sin. Lot was a believer whom God spared from the
 bread for our bodies, we must be ready to give it         destruction of Sodom and also separated him from
 up if it interferes with getting the Bread of Life. To    his godless wife. The possibility does exist that
 choose bread for the flesh at the expense of losing       there were a few believers in Moab, even so many
 the Bread of Life is not only the height of folly but     years after Lot. But since they did not have God's
 also a gross sin.                                         tabernacle and the cross of Christ typically before
                                                           them, this is doubtful. Orpah did not show any
   One thing we ought to see clearly in this book of       faith, but only natural love for Naomi.
 Ruth is God's covenant faithfulness as it is shown
 to unfaithful members of the body of Christ. God's          Now Naomi's decision to return to Canaan
 people are so often unfaithful. They can, as              revealed a kindling of a smoldering spiritual fire in
 Abraham did, not only seek bread in a wrong way           her. In His grace God blew upon the spiritual fire
                                                           He had implanted in Naomi, and that had to a great
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      but not complete degree gone out, and only in a few
 Reformed Churches.                                        ways still glowed and revealed its presence.


404                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Although Naomi did not look to God for all her            go away from the preaching of the word and from
needs, He never looked away from her, and kept            meeting Christ in God's house, or arrange to be
the sparks of faith burning in her;  and. she did         where poisonous meat is served instead of the truth
separate herself from Lot's descendants to loin once      as it is in Christ.
again with Abraham's seed who were set apart by             It is because of God's faithfulness to His prom-
God as His church in that day.                            ises that we are kept faithful. We have our faults,
  Staying ten years or more in Moab, Naomi did            but God has none. And all this must not encourage
sin grievously. That God spoke three times by the         us to follow Abraham's or Naomi's sinful ways. In-
death of her loved ones indicates that this was no        stead we ought to be more careful and find comfort
little thing  in His eyes. And that Naomi could not       in this truth of God's faithfulness.
get any grandchildren, and that she and Elimelech           These three blows which God made Naomi suf-
had no covenant seed to carry on and live in the          fer were not acts of cruelty. His mercy caused all
promised land, was no little thing either. But once       this to happen, so that she would turn back to
again we had better hold it clearly before our eyes       Christ and the blessings in Him in Canaan. Always
that only one sin has everlasting anger and wrath in      we have to look at God's purpose and not simply at
the holy God Who made man in His own image, so            what our eye can see and our ear can hear. The
that he was able to serve Him in the law in which         surgeon makes some severe cuts into the flesh,
he was created. He warned Adam of committing              even at times removing organs or large sections of
only one sin. He made His own Son suffer an ever-         them. And it is going to hurt for a time. But we err if
lasting punishment, which He could and did bring          we say that this was cruel of him. Far less is it cruel
to an end, because as the Second Person of the Holy       when God afflicts us, bereaves us, makes life hard
Trinity He could give everlasting value to what He        for our flesh; and when we do not listen makes it
did in a moment of time.                                  even harder. He is seeking our good. A surgeon
  We may all hang our heads in shame, therefore,          may be cruel and careless; but God is kind and does
and not compare our lives with Naomi's in order to        only that which is absolutely necessary for our
excuse one of our sins, or to boast of not being as       wellbeing.
evil as she was. Even if we do not commit her sin,          Do we not read in Romans 8:28 that ALL things
and could count all of our sins and all of hers and       work together for good to them that love God? And
find we transgressed God's law a fewer number of          does Paul not add a few verses later that nothing,
times, that is because of God's grace and not             including death, can separate us from His love?
because we of ourselves have more spiritual power           What we must see when we get to the last por-
and wisdom.                                               tion of this book of Ruth is that God is working all
  It might not have been, and most likely was not,        things together for good for Naomi, Ruth and us. In
earthly bread that kept us from meeting Christ in         all this God is preparing the way for the birth of His
the preaching of the word this past Sabbath day.          Son, who will bring us to heavenly glory in His
But so often it is our flesh, the same flesh that         kingdom, where there is no sin and no curse. He
wants bread. That flesh is not in the best of health;     used Naomi's sin, even as He used the sins of the
but though tomorrow there is no improvement, and          scribes, chief priest, and elders, to get that Son on
it may even suffer more physical misery, we must          His cross. His purpose is our salvation, and through
and do go to the shop or office to work. There are        it the glory of His own name.
many times when Moab looks mighty good to us.               Always, in all things that God does, keep that
After stress andstrain and growing tension, a vaca-       cross in mind.
tion is good for the body; and the craving is there to

                The Standard Bearer makes a
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                       family member or friend.
          Give a gift of the Standard Bearer!


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            405



GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH
Thomas C. Miersma





      Descartes and the Philosophy of Doubt



  In our consideration of the modern assault upon         tion were put forth. It was out of it that the method
the Reformed doctrine of Scripture we turn again to       of inductive reasoning and scientific experimenta-
a discussion of modern philosophy out of which            tion also arose as it was set forth by Francis Bacon
that assault arises after the Reformation. The rise of    in England (1561-1626). Such an approach is by its
modern scientific study issuing from the                  very nature suited only to that' which can be
Renaissance called into question the existing under-      touched, seen, measured, and handled. If the idea,
standing of man and the world. It did so on the           however, is applied to the whole of the creation and
basis of human reason and an investigation of crea-       every thing in it, also to the life of man, his thinking
tion. Principally this approach had from the very         and willing, the necessary result is that one must
outset no room for divine revelation concerning the       regard man and all that belongs to him as the mere
creation. The underpinnings of modern science,            result of the operation of certain natural laws. That
that creation can be explained from itself by the         is, that our thinking, willing, and actions are merely
mind of man, were already present. This                   processes of the. creation not different essentially
philosophy which underlay the spirit of the               from the laws of motion or gravity.
Renaissance had yet to receive, however, a full
systematic treatment. Just as the early New Testa-          Following this theory everything can be under-
ment church began with faith in God and His Word          stood in terms of mathematical principles and for-
and developed in its doctrinal understanding, so          mulas, or be reduced to mere cause and effect rela-
also unbelief begins in unbelief and not with a full-     tionships. These relationships themselves can be
blown system of philosophy formally spelled out.          discerned and developed by means of logical and
Modern science was no different.                          systematic reasoning and analysis. Man by his
                                                          reason can then explain everything, because every-
  Study and investigation however, soon led to            thing is merely the result of some natural process.
questions concerning the principles, basis and prop-      Good and evil have no real meaning but are re-
er methods of study which are to be followed to           duced to that which in its effect is either pleasant or
arrive at accurate conclusions. The result is the         unpleasant. This theory was put forward by the
development of philosophy. In the period arising          English  philosopher,.Thomas  Hobbes (1588-1650).
out of the Renaissance it was particularly to the         While it was radical in its day it is one which con-
science of mathematics that man turned as a tool          tinues with us in one form or another and underlies
for the study of the creation. By it he sought to         much of modern unbelieving thought. It basically
develop the principles and formulas which would           regards man as a mere machine in the creation
explain the phenomena he observed in the creation,        which itself runs as a machine. Man is simply the
so-called natural laws, which are more properly           product of his biology, his environment, or the in-
termed the regular workings of God's providence           teraction of things round about him and within
in the creation.                                          him.
  It is with a view to this mathematical model that         It is not surprising therefore that Hobbes also
the first principles of modern scientific  investiga-     had no use for religion. He treats the origin of
                                                          religion as a natural response of man, primitive and
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of the First Protestant       unscientific man, caused by his fear of that which
Reformed Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.               he cannot explain, and he lays the origin of


406                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



miracles also at the same doorstep. Hobbes'                standing. It is on this principle that he builds his
philosophy rules out the existence of God, of              philosophy. That does not mean, however, that
revelation, and of miracles or anything outside the        Descartes denies the existence of a divine being.
creature from the very outset. It is the philosophy        Taking up his principle, "I think therefore I am,"
of the atheistic fool who says outright that which he      he finds in his experience that there are certain
says in his heart, that there is no God. It stands in      things which are given, which belong to the order
direct and open opposition to the Christian faith.         and structure of his experience of that which is
Exactly because it does so, however, and rules out         around him of which he himself is not the author.
God's existence as a first principle, it does not con-     He concludes from it that another thinking or
stitute the same kind of threat to the Christian faith     thinker greater than he must exist even as his own
that a Jehovah-Baa1 hybrid does.                           thinking exists and he exists. "I think therefore I
  It is with Rene' Descartes (1596-1650) that we           am" leads therefore to the idea there is thinking
find the first real form of modern synthesis be-           outside of me. Therefore the thinker (god) exists as
tween philosophy and religion. Descartes was con-          the first cause. Starting with himself he frames in
sidered one of the leading intellectuals of his day. A     his philosophy a divine being. This being is not
son of the lesser French nobility, a Roman Catholic        known by revelation but by thought. He is thought
by profession, he was a widely traveled man, who           as a self-existent entity.
followed in the train of the numerous armies of              Now there are a great number of things which
Europe until he tired of military camp life and set-       could be said about this philosophy, but certain
tled in Paris. In 1628 he left Paris for Holland           elements are of primary importance. The basic
where there was room for greater intellectual              starting point is not God and His self-revelation but
freedom. He was in appearance slight but  well-            man and his thought. The god of Descartes is really
built, though tending to have a weak constitution.         an image made in the likeness of man's thought and
He had a large head, a pale complexion, a large            experience. It has nothing to do with the God of the
nose and a wart on his cheek. He was bald and              Scriptures. Descartes is engaged in a sophisticated
usually wore a wig, being somewhat particular              form of idolatry and of making a graven image in
about his dress. He was a studious person,  well-          his own imagination. That which starts in unbeliev-
versed in the emerging science of his age, with a          ing doubt can never rise to truth and certainty
gifted mind, a cultured unbeliever moving in the in-       because it denies from the outset the only basis of
tellectual circles of Holland. His influence was felt      the knowledge of God, God's revelation of Himself
not only in Holland but across Europe.                     to us. That which begins with the lie ends with the
  Descartes in some respects went beyond Hobbes            lie. Descartes' god is really nothing more than an
in his application of the new scientific principles        idealized form of human reason, dependent upon
and in an attempt to develop a systematic approach         man's mind and experience for existence, being
to the new learning. As the new science called into        and content. The danger of this philosophical god
doubt the accepted understanding of the world and          who is not God is that like  Baa1 it stands over
re-examined it, so Descartes lifts up that principle       against Jehovah. And the idolater may now speak
of doubt or unbelief to a first principle in his think-    with the appearance of Christian terminology of
ing. He begins by doubting the existence and cer-          God's existence when he means god's existence to
tainty of everything, not only of God but of the           the subversion of the church, God's Word, and
creation also. The experience of the material world        sound doctrine. The real danger exists of a Jehovah-
of time and space may itself be a dream or an illu-        Baa1 hybrid entering the church. This in reality is
sion. It also is therefore to be doubted. This is          what has happened and is happening also in our
unbelief in its purest form carried to the point of        day, though in more sophisticated forms than
the absurd. Upon that principle of absolute doubt,         Descartes.
doubt concerning everything that can be doubted
he wanted so to build as to arrive at certainty and
truth. He begins with the idea that whether his ex-
perience is a dream or an illusion it nevertheless is          The Standard Bearer
there, he experiences it. Whether dream or illusion
his experience is real and therefore he is real and         makes a thoughtful gift
exists. This principle he sets forth as a conclusion
"I think therefore I am" (cogito ergo sum). In so do-        for the sick & shut-in.
ing Descartes starts with himself,  his  thinking,  his
experience as the standard by which to judge the
reality and certainty of anything else. In effect
Descartes makes himself his own god in his under-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             407


                                         Book Review


A CONCISE EXEGETICAL GRAMMAR OF                             reference guide for ministers in their exegetical
NEW TESTAMENT GREEK, by J. Harold Green-                    studies. The title itself suggests this latter as its
lee; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986.  79pp.,          main purpose, and it is ideally suited to that end.
(no price included, paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.           While working with the Greek New Testament, the
Hanko)                                                      minister can make good use of a handy, concise and
  The fact that this is the fifth edition of a book         well-organized summary of various points of Greek
originally published in 1953 demonstrates that              grammar; and this book fills that need very well. It
many students of Greek have found it helpful.               has detailed descriptions of case uses of Greek
While it is not, in my judgment, suited for a text-         nouns, of tense and mood uses of Greek verbs, as
book to be used in beginners' Greek classes, it does        well as various other important points of grammar.
have two excellent purposes: 1) It can well serve as        We highly recommend the book to all ministers
a compendium for a more comprehensive text in               who work with the Greek in sermon preparation.
the study of beginning Greek; 2) It is a handy


                       News From Our Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger





                                          June  1,1987      ences for that particular aspect of God's salvation.
  A couple weeks ago I received a pamphlet en-                If you would like a copy of this worthwhile work
titled, God's  Sovereignty in Salvation,  written by        by Rev. Houck, simply send a note to:
Rev. Steven Houck, our missionary in Modesto,                      The South Holland Evangelism Committee
California, and published by the Evangelism Com-                   16511 South Park Ave.
mittee of our congregation in South Holland, Il-                   South Holland, Illinois 60473
linois.                                                       The cost, you ask? Absolutely free. A worthwhile
  Having now had a chance to sit down and read              pamphlet to add to your library and you cannot
this pamphlet, I can heartily recommend it to all           beat the price. Who says you cannot get something
the readers of  The Standard Bearer.                        for nothing anymore!
  This pamphlet is only twenty seven pages long,              On April 10, the PTA of the Free Christian School
so it can be read and re-read many times. But don't         in Edgerton, Minnesota, met and for the program
let its shortness fool you. Rev. Houck covers every         Mr. Lim showed a video presentation of slides on
aspect of God's work in our salvation. As he states         Singapore. He also moderated the presentation and
in the preface, "It is our prayer that the Lord God         answered a lot of questions.
will be pleased to use this pamphlet as a testimony
of His sovereign grace, for the advancement of the            On April 13 the Spring Social was also held in
cause of His Truth, and to the glory of His -great          Edgerton  and the video tape on Jamaica was
name' ' .                                                   shown. Lunch that evening was prepared with the
                                                            assistance of Mr. Lim and included spring rolls and
  I especially liked the Scripture references at the        won tons, both Chinese items. They had a truly in-
end of the pamphlet. Each chapter is listed and             ternational weekend and they were made aware of
then follows an extensive list of Scripture  refer-         the universality of the church.
                                                              Three lectures were held in Norristown,
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church    Pennsylvania, on Friday and Saturday, May 8 and
of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   9. The general theme of these lectures were  "Un-


                                                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                             P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





408                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

derstanding the Old Testament". Prof. H.C.              speak on "Society in Ambivalence Toward
Hoeksema spoke on Friday evening on "The Origin         Children".
and Development of the Promise." Prof. H. Hanko            Loveland congregation recently had an All Re-
spoke Saturday morning on "The  Typology  of the        quest Singspiration after the evening service. The
Old Testament," and Rev. K.  Hanko, spoke Satur-        offering taken, as you might imagine, being in
day afternoon on "The Law and the Promise".             Loveland, was for the 1987 PRYP'S Convention.
  From our congregation in Wyckoff, New Jersey,            On May 2 there was a Pancake Breakfast and
we find that during the month of April work began       simultaneous car wash, sponsored by the Young
on the parsonage to waterproof the basement, with       People of First Church, at Adams St. School, with
a view to building a study down there. Work was         the proceeds also going to the 1987 convention.
also begun on the building of a garage.
  This news column will now have one more                                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
church from which to draw its news items. On May           On June 19, 1987, our parents, MR. & MRS. CLARENCE PRINCE
13 the families in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada, were       will observe their 45th wedding anniversary.
organized as the Immanuel Protestant Reformed              We, their children and grandchildren, are grateful to our covenant
Church. We are always happy and rejoice when            God for the years He has given them and the faithful Christian in-
another congregation is added to our numbers. And       struction they have given us. We pray God's blessings continue with
                                                        them in the years ahead.
it is our prayer that in all your ways you will
acknowledge God, and that He will direct your              "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God
                                                        which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him." (Dem.
paths.                                                  7:9)
  On May 14 a special community program was             Chet and Sharon  Haveman             Doug and Mary Jane Prince
held in the Randolph Protestant Reformed Church.           Janna and Michael                       Hilary
The friends and neighbors of our congregation
there were invited to come and see what the Lord                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
has done by establishing an exciting new church in         On June 11, 1987, REV. AND MRS. JASON KORTERING  will, the
                                                        Lord willing, celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
Singapore. Pastor den Hartog showed slides and             The Lord has blessed us with Godly parents and we are thankful
gave a talk on his past seven years as missionary in    that His love has been evident in our home. It is our heartfelt prayer
Singapore.- The main objective of this program was      that He will continue to be their strength and guide in the years to
to invite members of the community and have             come.
them share with Randolph something of the bless-           "0 taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that
ings of the Lord on the mission work of our church-     trusteth in Him." (Psalm 34:8)
es in Singapore.                                        their loving children and grandchildren
                                                           Barry and Lori Gritters                  Bruce and Joan Klamer
  Have you ever asked yourself the question: Why                Curt, Kevin, Eric, Danny            Leon and Ellen Kamps
do I find it so difficult to live the way I know a         Dennis and Sharon Griess                    Nicholas
                                                                Cory, Tara, Justin, Seth            Carol Kortering
Christian should? This is a crucial question and
those who attended the Spring Motivation Seminar                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
at Kalamazoo  last month attempted to find an
answer.                                                    On June 20, 1987 our parents and grandparents, MR. AND MRS.
                                                        WM. SWART will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. We are
  Saturday, May 2, the Covenant Christian High          grateful to God for the covenant training and example they have
                                                        given us. We are also grateful that God has preserved them for
School Band gave a concert which featured the           themselves and for us. May He continue His blessing upon them.
many familiar marches of John Phillip  Sousa. They         "The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon
were preceded by a combined band concert of             them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children."
Adams, Hope, and Heritage School bands.                 Ronald and Susan Van Overloop
  The P.T.F.A. of Covenant High met on May 1 to         Calvin and Linda Kalsbeek
                                                        Judy Swart
hear Kent County Probate Judge Randall Hekman              and fourteen grandchildren


